


It's Complicated

by NerdyPanda3126



Series: It's Complicated [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety, Emotional Hurt, Endgame Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, F/M, Flashbacks, Identity Reveal, Jealous Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Oblivious Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pre-Reveal Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-14
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:15:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 18,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23143036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NerdyPanda3126/pseuds/NerdyPanda3126
Summary: What do you get when you cross a black cat, a designer, a guitarist, and a fencer? The answer is it's complicated.Chat Noir stops by to help Marinette with her design block. When he finds out the design is for Luka, he has to figure out why that bothers him. Surely it's because she's a very good friend, right? Meanwhile, Marinette struggles with letting go of Adrien and figuring out why Chat Noir is suddenly acting so differently...Takes place shortly after Miracle Queen, so everyone's still a little confused. There's a happy ending in here somewhere. Rated T just in case.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Kagami Tsurugi, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: It's Complicated [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1792171
Comments: 237
Kudos: 483





	1. Design Block

Marinette groans as she scribbles over yet another design, and rips yet another sheet of paper out of her sketchbook, crumpling it before tossing it to the ground among the many others. Nothing is working. This piece has to be finished by this weekend so she can give it to Luka before he goes onstage with Kitty Section, but she can’t even get a vision of what she needs to be sewing. Her head is too full to think straight.

“Maybe you should take a break?” Tikki asks, floating hesitantly in front of her. Marinette considers it, but then she shakes her head. 

“One more try, Tikki. I promise.”

She bends her head back over her sketchbook, letting her thoughts flow onto the page. She keeps Luka’s stage character, his colors and his mask, in mind as she draws. Her mind drifts to the small smile he gets when he plays. The bright blue of his eyes when they flick open to glance at her in his audience. The songs he’s played for her in the few moments they’ve had together. He always manages to play the song she needs to hear. 

When she looks down at her work, blinking out of her design trance, she finds that she’s covered the paper in hearts. Oh no. This can’t- she doesn’t- it’s not like that. She takes a deep breath. His voice echoes in her mind. You can be yourself with me, you know. Just yourself. 

She glances at her screensaver: a picture of Adrien she couldn’t bear to take down. She touches her fingertips to his bright smile. Her heart twinges. Hard. She still sees him in class, of course. And that has gotten easier. They’re still friends, after all. Alya isn’t a fan of this new plan, obviously, but she respects it. Marinette has noticed that Alya has subtly been rearranging their hangouts. She appreciates the thought, she really does, but she does miss Adrien. Maybe she should invite him to the concert this weekend. 

Her eyes travel to the hiding spot where she’s tucked the Miracle Box. Boys should really be the last thing on her mind. She tears the page out of her sketchbook with a sigh and crumples it, throwing it behind her. She’ll clean this mess up and try again tomorrow.

When she looks around for Tikki, the kwami isn’t anywhere in sight. It’s not normal for her to just disappear unless –

Chat rakes his claws against the glass of her window. The sound makes the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and she grits her teeth as she gets up to let him in.

“ _Why_ do you do that? You know I hate it.”

“And that’s why I do it.” He grins rakishly as he steps inside, spinning his baton over his palm before he latches it to his back. She slumps back into her desk chair. He wouldn’t be here unless something were bothering him. She can hold off going to sleep a bit longer.

Chat’s brow furrows when his boots hit the floor and he sees that it’s littered with her failed attempts. He moves to pick one up out of curiosity.

“Chat, don’t. Seriously, it’s not good.”

He smirks as he smooths out the paper, but she’s scribbled out every design she’s tried, so she knows he can’t see what she was working on. He picks up another from the floor, but it’s the same result.

“Design block?” He tilts his head at her and one of his cat ears flops over. She nods, then curls onto her desk chair, setting her chin on her arms. “Maybe I could help? I know a thing or two about this stuff.”

“Maybe? I don’t know,” she says.

“What are you trying to make?”

“Menswear.”

“Have you ever done menswear before?”

She shrugs. She’s not going to mention the mound of gifts she’s made for Adrien that are in the chest behind him, still waiting to be presented. Mostly accessories. “I’ve dabbled.”

“Well, talk me through it.” He crosses his ankle over his knee and leans forward. “What’s the occasion?”

“It’s supposed to be stage wear, but also something that could be casual.”

“Who are you designing for? Like, who’s your guy?”

The tips of her ears heat up when she thinks about the hearts she hadn’t meant to draw. “I don't think I should tell you. You might know him.”

“Oh, so it’s a specific ‘him’, then?” Chat asks, his cat ears perking. “Who is this ‘him'?” She starts to stammer an excuse, but he waves her off. “Just throw me some adjectives.”

“Well…um, he’s…nice.”

Chat’s lips quirk in amusement. “I can’t help with just ‘nice’. Keep going.”

She pauses to think. Chat and Luka have met a few times now. But it's not like Chat knows him well enough to guess who it is off a vague description. It should be safe. “He’s laid-back. Quiet, even though he has a lot to say. Patient. Perceptive. He keeps his nails painted black. He likes Jagged Stone, and he plays the guitar. And he’s sweet. Very sweet.” She hadn’t realized while she was talking that she had started smiling, and her cheeks are starting to burn.

“Luka,” he breathes, “you’re making something for Luka.”

She tries to hide her surprise. He got it on the first try. How well does Chat know Luka, anyways? No, don't think about it, that's dangerously close to identity territory. She clears her throat. “Um, yeah, it’s for Luka. The band is performing this weekend.”

Chat stands from the chaise and paces to the other side of her room. She’s seen him irritated a few times now, and she can tell by the tense curve in his shoulders and the way his tail is flicking around his calves that something she’s said has bothered him. She watches him as he seems to try to get ahold of himself. It only takes him a moment or two before he drops into his feline crouch and sidles back to her.

“So, this design, it’s for a concert?” He’s slipped into his professional problem-solving tone, like when they’re brainstorming how to defeat an akuma. She can’t place her finger on why she finds this odd.

She hesitates before she answers. “Yeah, just the band and a few friends. Nothing big. Kitty Section usually draws a crowd along the banks of the river, though. I thought that maybe I could make something different for Luka to wear on stage. Something more him.”

She can’t bring herself to mention that she also wants to thank him for being there for her. She had broken down in his arms when everything had fallen on her shoulders and he held her and told her it would be okay. She hadn’t known how much she needed that until he gave it to her. The least she could do is make him something thoughtful.

Chat has recovered only slightly. He picks up another of her crumpled sketches off the floor and starts to smooth the wrinkles open with the pads of his thumbs, lingering on the corners. Her pulse speeds up when she notices it’s the one she had been working on right before he walked in. At least there’s actually an attempt at a design on there for him to look at. Hopefully he doesn’t tease her too much about the hearts. He runs a hand over the paper, tracing her wispy pencil marks and probably trying to make sense of it.

“It’s a jacket?”

“I was playing with the idea.” She knows her cheeks are turning bright red. “I thought that might be the easiest for him to work into his stage costume. If he wanted to.”

Chat nods, reading her fabric and color annotations. “It’s a good idea. I like this here, the hood you had.”

“I got that off of those hooded character towels.” Her blush is deepening every second he holds that paper. She tries to take it out of his hands. He hasn’t said anything yet about her doodles, but she knows it’s coming.

He catches her wrist, taking the paper back from her, and a grin spreads across his face.

“Chat, give that back.”

“Nope. I’m going to take it home and frame it.” He jumps up out of her reach when she lunges for the paper. “These hearts are for me, right? Or are they for Luuuuka?”

Yup, she knew that had been coming. She tries again to get the sketch away from him, but he’s too fast, keeping it just out of her reach.

“Will you autograph it for me? I want to keep it for when you’re famous.” He clutches it to his chest as if it’s precious to him. She can see the challenge in his eyes. For a moment neither one of them moves as they size each other up.

Then Marinette tackles him, catching him around his midsection and throwing him down to the chaise. He wraps an arm around her as they fall, still trying to protect her even when she’s trying to fight him. Typical. She grabs for the sketch as she rolls away from him, but Chat wriggles it out of her grasp. Quicker than she can follow, he’s up into a crouch position on the chaise, the sketch dangling from his claws. Taunting her.

She lunges for it again, but he jumps back, his feet landing on the floor on the other side of the chaise. With an impish grin, he holds the sketch above his head, to the full extent of his reach. She refuses to jump for it. He knows he’s won. She can see it written across his face, that victory grin and his bright eyes.

“You’re supposed to be helping me!” She picks up the pillow from the chaise and throws it at him. He dodges it easily, laughing.

He clears his throat, his smirk still lingering. “Alright, alright. So, something special for the stage, but casual enough to wear regularly. Laid-back like he is, but that makes him stand out.” He lists the criteria off and glances down at the sketch still in his hands. She’s surprised at how much he had actually been paying attention. “It’s a tall order,” he says.

“He’s a tall order.” Marinette slaps a hand over her mouth as the words leave her. The response had flown out of her before she thought it through. She knows she’s blushing all the way to the roots of her hair. Chat’s eyes can’t possibly be any bigger.

There’s an awkward pause between them. Strange, considering nothing has ever been awkward with Chat before. He blinks at her and clears his throat again, coughing to cover it. His cat ears flatten against his head and his belt tail droops.

“Uh, it’s late. I… I should go.” He lays her crumpled sketch on her desk next to her. “I think you should go with this. It suits him.” He gives her a small smile before he slinks up the ladder to her skylight and pulls himself onto her balcony.

She’s too stunned at his sincerity for a moment to follow him, but when she does, he’s already run off into the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Next chapter we'll follow Chat home and get his perspective on the night's events.


	2. Design Envy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien tries to figure out what happened at Marinette's and comes to his own conclusions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to [epcot97](https://archiveofourown.org/users/epcot97/pseuds/epcot97) and [fandomchildd](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fandomchildd/pseuds/fandomchildd) for being betas for this chapter!

He has never wanted to run more in his entire life. Good thing he’s already suited up. The rhythm of running across the rooftops is so familiar to him by now that he doesn’t even have to think about it. Which leaves his mind free to wander.

Going to Marinette’s tonight had been a mistake. He hadn’t meant to intrude. It’s just that she’s been avoiding him as Adrien. And Nino won’t talk to him about it. He said something about being sworn to secrecy. Probably Alya’s doing.

He can’t help but think that he’s done something that made her hate him again. She probably doesn’t want to hurt his feelings, so she won’t say anything to him. But he’s noticed they’ve stopped hanging out as the four of them. Alya and Marinette and Nino hang out, or he and Alya and Nino. Of course he still sees her in class, and when the entire gang is together, and she still smiles and talks to him then. But something’s different.

The more he thinks about it, the more it fits. He must’ve done something, but he can’t figure out what it is.

She’s different with Chat, though. More relaxed. And that’s why he’s been going to see her in costume. He’d been there a few times now because he’s missed talking with her. She teases him when he’s Chat, and lets him tease her back. The only time she and Adrien had come close to that was the wax museum. That ended well. 

But the way she blushed when she talked about Luka and the hearts on the sketch. Those weren’t for Adrien to see. He shouldn’t have gone tonight.

He can’t figure out why it bothers him that she’s making something for Luka. Maybe it’s because she’s never designed anything like that for Adrien. Well, the derby hat, but that was for a competition she happened to win and he happened to model it. She didn’t design that with him in mind, just because she wanted to. This was going to be something specially made for Luka and she’d been agonizing over it by the looks of how many ideas she had scrapped. It’s important to her.

He extends his baton to vault over the next rooftop, helicoptering down. If he’s being honest with himself, he knows why he’s really upset.

Nino hasn’t mentioned the concert to him. Marinette had said it’s the band and a few friends. And apparently that doesn’t include him anymore. He knows his friends—if they are still his friends—are protecting Marinette. Whatever he did, he probably deserves this exile if Nino is going along with it. At this rate, he’ll end up right back where he started.

He’s made it back to his house, sooner than he expected. For a moment, he considers turning around and running as far and as fast as the suit will carry him. It’s not like anyone would miss him. But Plagg was already grumpy about transforming in the first place. He’s probably hungry. Then again, he’s always hungry. It’s a fair assumption.

He vaults into the window and lets his transformation drop, tossing Plagg a slice of camembert without looking.

“Ooh, jealous, are we?” The nasal voice follows him as he walks into his bathroom. He hears Plagg munch the slice of cheese in one bite. Gross.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he says before he leans down to the sink and splashes some cold water on his face. His mind circles back to Marinette. He shouldn’t have run from her. He easily could’ve ruined his only way to talk to her anymore. Why did he have to run?

She’s just doing something she loves to do: designing something for someone special to her. If he asked, she would probably make something for him, too. He could probably even commission her if he wanted. But that’s not the point, is it?

“Oh, come on, you’re practically green.”

“Lay off, Plagg.” He reaches for a towel to pat his face dry. He knows Plagg is right. Plagg knows Plagg is right. It’s one of his many endearing qualities.

When he straightens up, he meets his own green eyes in the mirror. He is jealous of Luka. He seems to make friends so easily. He had been accepted into their group, just like that. Marinette has always seemed to like spending time with him, at least. Adrien wishes his friendship with her were that simple. Luka’s a great guy; if anyone deserves to show off an original Marinette design, it would be him.

There must be some way he can fix things with Marinette. He has to do something to earn her friendship back. If he could just get to that concert, maybe he could talk to her. Maybe if he apologizes for being an awful friend, their group can go back to the way they were.

He could ask if he could play keyboard for the band again. He had fun that other time he performed with them, and they didn’t seem to mind having him. And Marinette had smiled the entire time. He’d have to get an invite first, which would require some lying by omission. After all, Adrien wasn’t supposed to know about it.

He scrolls through his phone to Nino’s number and types up a message.

_A: Might have some free time this weekend, want to hang out?_

That was safe. He could bother Nathalie for the free time later. Or just sneak out as Chat Noir and detransform somewhere near the houseboat. If they’d have him, he’d find a way to be there. If they didn’t want him there, Nino would turn him down and that would be that.

Still, he couldn’t help glancing at his phone every few seconds, waiting for the response. If Nino does say no, maybe he can bug Alya about it instead.

_N: ofc_

_gig at julekas saturday_

_you in_

A sigh of relief escapes him. That was easier than he thought it would be.

_A: I’ll try to be there. Need a keyboard player?_

_N: check w jules_

Adrien’s grip tightens around his phone. If he asks Juleka and she tells Luka, then Luka might tell Marinette and the whole thing would be ruined. But if he’s not there to perform with the band, then what other reason would he have to be there? He’d end up just hanging around Marinette awkwardly and trying to make conversation. Or worse, she’d ignore him completely. He really hopes she wouldn’t ignore him completely.

Maybe he could invite Kagami. She and Marinette were friends now, so maybe it would be nice of him to bring her so they could hang out. He would feel less out of place if Kagami were there with him. And she would appreciate being included. And Marinette would appreciate him inviting her, he was sure. 

_A: Can you get away this Saturday?_

He sends the message to Kagami before he can rethink it. He knows better than to expect a quick response. While he waits, he goes ahead and sends the message to Juleka.

It wouldn’t be so bad if Marinette found out he was coming, right? He swipes through his phone to find the group pictures they had taken. In most of them, Marinette looks like herself: confident and smiling directly at the camera. Any time she gets pushed up against him, though, her whole demeanor changes. She’s shy, tense, avoiding looking at anything. In some of them, she looks like she would rather do anything else than take a picture with him. She’s even hiding her face behind a book in one picture. 

It’s definitely something about him. She would never tell him outright she didn’t want to be around him. She’s so thoughtful and she wouldn’t want to hurt him. For some reason, that hurts more than anything else.

_J: mom insists you play ‘that old thing’_

He nods at his phone, a bit of confidence in his plan returning. At least his excuse is covered. He’ll have to get the music so he can practice a bit before Saturday. His phone buzzes with an answer from Kagami. That was fast.

_K: I’ll ask my mother. It should be fine as long as it’s with you. She likes you. What activity did you have in mind?_

He smiles at her message, but he can feel his brow furrow. Mme. Tsurugi’s approval carries a lot of weight behind it. There’s a brief memory of Kagami’s hands in his hair next to the river, mixed up with Ladybug, demanding to know why Chat Noir’s nicknames for her had stopped and Marinette walking away. A lot of things were changing. 

“Geez, how many girls are you juggling, anyways?” Plagg is reading the text over his shoulder. Adrien rolls his eyes at the kwami of destruction before he types his response to Kagami. 

_A: How do you feel about a concert?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Next chapter Marinette finishes her design for Luka while she worries about Chat's behavior.


	3. Pattern Making

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette worries about Chat's odd behavior and reaches her own conclusions. But it gives her the inspiration she needs to finish her design for Luka, and just in time for the concert

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the delay on this one! There were a lot of moving parts in this chapter and it took forever for me to be happy with it. Without further ado...

She doesn’t know how long she’s been standing on her balcony, staring off into the night, but Tikki has floated up to perch next to her on the railing. She nuzzles at Marinette’s hand, which brings her back to the present. 

Marinette shakes her head and turns to climb back into her bedroom. The night has gotten cold and he’s obviously not coming back any time soon. Tikki follows her through the skylight and Marinette latches it. She needs to get some sleep. But as she settles into her bed, pulling the blankets up over her and curling to her side, her mind is still reeling over the night’s events. 

Chat has become a friend, and he visits when he’s lonely or if he needs a distraction from... something. She can't be sure what it is; he keeps a lot to himself. Which is a good thing, it really is. Out of the two of them, she would think he would be the irresponsible one and reveal his identity to someone he feels close to. But at least with Marinette he seems to be as stubborn about the identities as she is. 

Clutching her pillow to her head, she thinks again about the chest in the corner of her room. She holds the Miracle Box now. Tikki’s told her that theoretically, she can revoke the identity rule if she wants to. She’s been stalling, weighing the pros and cons back and forth. So far her cons list is much longer, amplified by a haunting memory of Chat Blanc, his cataclysm activated, advancing towards her and calling her by her name. She shakes her head before the memory can take root. She doesn’t need to have any more nightmares. For now, until she figures things out, it’s best their identities stay hidden.

On the other hand, if she knows more about Chat, maybe she can help him by being his friend. He’s been coming to her house more often. She hadn’t had the chance to talk to him about whatever was on his mind tonight, but it usually ends up that way anyways. He’s good at distracting her, making her forget that he’s the one looking for distraction. 

She replays their interaction in her head, looking for clues about why he might’ve run off. The first time he got upset was when he figured out her design was for Luka. And he hadn’t wanted to own up to knowing Luka. She recalls the way his brow furrowed when he first saw her sketch, the damning hearts fluttering around the edges. 

“Hey, Tikki?” She sits up, letting the blankets pool in her lap. “Chat was acting weird tonight, right?” 

The kwami floats up to be next to Marinette’s face. “I do think it was a little out of character for him.” 

“Like everything was fine until I mentioned Luka, and then he went all quiet. He’s been that way with Ladybug before but only when…” 

“Only when he’s jealous?” Tikki says. Marinette nods, glad that Tikki has caught on to her train of thought. 

“But it wouldn’t make sense for him to be jealous of me, I mean, we’re friends. He’s in love with Ladybug.” 

“Maybe he’s changed his mind?” 

Marinette shakes her head. “He doesn’t have feelings for me. He’s told me that himself. But what about... Luka?” 

She had always assumed, based on the targets of his flirting, that Chat was straight. She hadn’t even considered that he might be questioning. But from what she understands of his home life, his father is not an understanding person. Could that be what he’s been struggling with and trying to talk with her about? 

She feels a small twinge of something in the pit of her stomach. Chat just told her he was in love with Ladybug not that long ago. Has he switched gears so easily, then? Is Luka just a new target for him? She shakes her head to get rid of that train of thought. It’s not like she has any claim on Chat, or on Luka for that matter. And she’s jumping to conclusions. Next time Chat comes to see her, she’ll have to pin him down and just ask him. No more distractions. 

Tikki hasn’t answered her rhetorical question, probably to let her reason it out for herself. Now that Marinette has thought about it, though, the two boys start to circle around each other in her mind. She wonders what Chat’s song would sound like to Luka. 

Luka’s music brings her thoughts back to the design she had been working on. Black. That’s what it needed. It needed to have black leather, with silver accents. Bright blue and pink and white worked in for Luka’s mask. The piping, like Chat’s costume. Where is her sketchbook? 

She scrambles out of bed and down her ladder to her desk, barely making it to her desk chair before the ideas are flowing out of her and onto the paper. Tikki sleeps on her desk next to her as she gets absorbed in the new design. She might not sleep tonight, but it’ll be so worth it. 

* * *

She’s been working feverishly on Luka’s jacket for the past few days. It’s finished. And just in time, too. She has just enough time to get ready and get over there before the concert starts. She runs her hand over her work. The piping had been the most challenging. She had twined the pink, blue, and white together before stitching it into the leather. There had been so many pieces. This has definitely been her biggest challenge so far. She hopes Luka likes it. She glances at the clock again. Is that really the time? 

Tikki watches from the desk, munching happily on a cookie, as Marinette fumbles out of her desk chair to start getting ready. She catches a glimpse of the sketch that Chat had seen, still on her desk where he had left it. He hasn’t come back to visit. And Hawkmoth has been oddly quiet. She hasn’t seen him on either side of the mask since he ran away from her. She’s worried about him, and it’s weighing heavily on her mind. She hopes she can clear the air with him soon, but his visits are so unpredictable. 

As she races around her room, pulling on her street clothes as quickly as she can, she thinks again that she should’ve invited Adrien to the concert tonight. She hasn’t really been fair to him lately. It’s not his fault, after all. He likes Kagami, and they’re perfect for each other. They’ll all be friends, and that’ll be fine. She’s fine. She ignores the way her heart beats just a little faster when she thinks about him. She should text Nino and ask if he’s already invited Adrien. She doesn’t trust herself to invite him to anything without being, well, the way she always is around him. 

She tugs her hair into pigtails, tying her ribbons hastily, then dives for her phone. Gah! No time. She has to be there like five minutes ago. She just barely remembers to grab Luka’s jacket off her sewing machine and pauses to let Tikki zip into her purse before she bolts out the door. 

* * *

When she steps onto the deck of the houseboat, everyone is already gathered around the stage. Rose and Juleka are off to one side, sharing their headphones and nodding along to something on Rose’s phone. New lyrics, maybe? Alya is spotting Nino on a ladder as he hangs the banners for Kitty Section. Mylène and Ivan are setting up the drums on the stage next to a keyboard.

Luka is kneeling off to the side, tweaking the sound system, his fingers flitting back and forth from his guitar to the amp, fiddling with the knobs one at a time. She almost hates to break his concentration. But she doesn’t have to. He hears her step up behind him and turns, resting his arms on the guitar in his lap, his intense focus melting into a reserved smile. 

Out of the corner of her eye, she can see Alya slap Nino's calf to get his attention. She really wishes she didn’t have an audience for this. Luka is waiting patiently for her to say something. 

“Hey, Luka. I, uh… I brought you something.” She thrusts the jacket at him before she can chicken out. Her heart is fluttering in her chest. She really hopes he likes it. He sets his guitar down on the stage and stands, taking the jacket from her in one smooth movement. 

He runs his fingers lightly over the embroidery she had done on the back panel. She had hand stitched Kitty Section’s logo into the black leather to look like an iron-on patch. He weighs the jacket in his hands, stretching out the jersey sleeves to look at them. There are silver studs on the shoulders, subtly mimicking his current shoulder pads. She’s especially proud of the front. She had pieced together the black leather with the colored piping in between triangular panels. The effect she had created was sort of a mosaic, the color just breaking up the black here and there. She had made the sides out of jersey like the sleeves for comfort and stretch. 

As Luka examines her work, she watches him carefully. He’s keeping his face even, like he always does. But his breath hitches when he gets around to the front. He traces the piping with his fingers, a smile finally breaking through his composure. He looks up at her through his hair, and she wills herself not to blush, holding her breath to hear his verdict. 

“Marinette, this is… amazing. Can I try it on?” 

She nods, not trusting herself to speak. He hands the jacket back to her briefly so he can strip off the hoodie he usually wears. Then he takes her jacket back and shrugs into it. She prays that she estimated his measurements correctly. There is some wiggle room with a jacket, and it doesn’t have to fit perfectly, but she really wants it to. 

It falls onto his shoulders just as she pictured it would. He stretches the sleeves down and they’re the perfect length for him. And black looks really good on him, she thinks as she feels the blush creep up her cheeks. He twists, trying to see it on himself, and stretches his arms out before he looks at her again, lifting his eyebrows for her approval. She knows she’s grinning from ear to ear. He likes it. He really likes it. 

“Oh, there’s a surprise in the hood,” she finally squeaks out, going around him to pull out the hidden mask. “When you have the hood up, the mask is attached here, so you can wear it on stage if you want, or just wear the hood by itself.” She pulls the sequined mask, attached by a sturdy strip of black elastic, out of the hood to show him, and he turns to look over his shoulder.

Her breath catches. She hadn’t noticed how close she had gotten to him, but she can see the small flecks of dark blue in his eyes. She can feel the happiness radiating out of him, even though he’s keeping his expression so carefully closed. He lays a hand over hers on his shoulder. 

“Hey, guys, mind if we come aboard?” 

She knows that voice. Her eyes travel over Luka’s shoulder. Adrien is standing on the stairs up to the deck. 

And he’s leading Kagami by the hand. 

And that’s fine. She’s fine. Everything’s fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter, we go back to Adrien as he struggles to focus on playing the keyboard. But Luka is in front of him and he's wearing Marinette's design and Kagami is waving at him and all he wants to do is talk to Ladybug.  
> Thank you for reading!


	4. Pattern Clashing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien and Kagami show up to the concert and Adrien has way more feelings than he knows what to do with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to [epcot97](https://archiveofourown.org/users/epcot97/pseuds/epcot97) for reading over the first part of this!

He did it! He had slipped his bodyguard and now he’s free. True, it had taken ducking into an alley and transforming and running as fast as he could across the rooftops to put as much distance as he could between him and the Gorilla, and then detransforming at a subway station, but it’ll all be worth it. Marinette is going to be so surprised to see him. His stomach does a little flip at the thought. 

He meets Kagami by the Pont des Arts and takes her hand before he starts to run along the riverbank, just for the fun of it. For the freedom of it. He can hear her laughing behind him. It turns into a race between them, each trying to gain a lead on the other while still keeping their hands linked. Adrien falls back purposefully, letting her go to the full extent of their combined reach before he puts on a burst of speed, turning his head as he passes her to catch a glimpse of her face. Her eyes narrow at him and she smiles, accepting his challenge. The only thing missing is her fencing mask.

The race begins in earnest then, as she matches him almost step for step. The houseboat is coming into view, the last stretch. He sneaks a glance at her and she’s intensely focused on the goal, her eyes fixed to the destination. It startles him how quickly his game had become serious for her. He realizes he had been thinking of his races along the rooftops with Ladybug. The ones where there is no point really, no destination in mind, just a give and take between them, challenging each other while they played, declaring a "winner" only when they were tired. 

With his head out of the game, he falls behind her by a few steps as they come up on the houseboat. They come to a stop together, both out of breath. He can feel the thin sheen of sweat that had broken out on his forehead. Maybe running here wasn’t the best idea. Kagami’s smiling at him, her eyes alight. She squeezes his hand lightly. The race had been fun for her, of course, mostly because she won. 

Marinette’s voice floats down to him from the deck. 

“Hey, Luka. I, uh… I brought you something.” 

Without thinking about it, his hand tightens around Kagami’s. Marinette sounds so nervous. She finished it, then. He wonders what the final product will look like. Marinette is so talented, it’s bound to be something unexpected and perfect for Luka. She probably signed it somewhere hidden, like she did for his derby hat. When did he start clenching his teeth? He makes an effort to relax his jaw. 

He catches Kagami’s eyes and smirks at her.

“Catch your breath yet?” She blinks back at him. Had he said something wrong? No, not wrong, just not Adrien. He had defaulted to his Chat mannerisms. He fixes his expression into something softer. 

“Ready whenever you are.” She answers him evenly. For some reason he gets the sense, like he usually does with her, that there’s something else behind her words. Something that he’s supposed to understand. He leads the way up the steps. 

And Luka is shrugging on the jacket. It stops him in his tracks. Luka’s showing the design off for Marinette, twisting and stretching out his arms. She must’ve hit some sort of inspiration after Chat left her the other night. It’s a piece of art. He can see Luka’s stage character in the coloring of it, and the studs on his shoulders, but in the subtlety of the design he can also just see Luka. She had found the balance she was looking for. 

Marinette circles around Luka then, and Adrien can see her face. She’s grinning. She’s lit up. She pulls something out of Luka’s hood, his stage mask, and Luka looks back at her. It feels like Adrien is witnessing something private, something personal, as Marinette’s cheeks turn pink. He’s clenching his jaw again. When Luka lays his hand on Marinette’s, something flares inside him, some ugly fire that works its way up from the pit of his stomach to squeeze around his heart. His feet finish the steps by themselves. 

“Hey, guys, mind if we come aboard?” His voice sounds wrong somehow, and he realizes it’s because his throat feels like it’s constricting. He feels a small satisfaction when Marinette pulls away from Luka. She does look surprised, that’s for sure. But she doesn’t look happy to see him.

Then she squeaks and steps back behind Luka, hiding her face into his back. Luka tucks one arm back behind himself and around her, almost like he’s shielding her, before he waves at them. The fact that Marinette would need comforting after just seeing Adrien claws at him. He bites the inside of his cheek and turns back to Kagami. Her expression is carefully neutral. She steps up next to him and threads her arm through his, curling her hand around his bicep. 

He nearly chokes on whatever mix of emotions he’s sorting through. Kagami’s intention is crystal clear; she’s claiming him. He sets aside the discomfort he feels at that. But why would she feel a need to? 

He can feel the tension on the Liberty. Everyone is glancing between him and Kagami and Marinette and Luka, and they seem to be holding their breath, waiting for something to happen. Nino takes a few steps off the ladder he’s on, and Alya moves closer to Marinette. They are protecting her, all of them. He feels like he’s intruded, somehow. Maybe he should just go. 

Marinette steps out from behind Luka, then, and her shock seems to have settled. She smiles and waves, the same restrained smile she gives him in class, and starts to walk towards them. But as she does, she trips on something and tumbles face first, flailing her arms wildly to try to catch herself. Adrien steps forward automatically, breaking Kagami's grip, to catch Marinette before she falls. 

"Are you okay?" 

She looks up at him, stunned, before pushing off his chest to right herself. He catches a glimpse of her bright red cheeks before she looks away to hide her face. He’s seen that look before. The other night when he was teasing her about the hearts on her sketch. Is she embarrassed that she fell into him? That would make sense. But then why does he still feel the warmth from where her hands were on his chest, spreading through him and calming his nerves? 

His hand is still on her elbow. He should probably move, pull away, give her space, something. 

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She meets his eyes, finally, and her blush has cleared. She smiles at him. Her real, Marinette smile. The one he’s missed. He could float away, buoyed by her happiness. Marinette isn’t mad at him. The relief washes over him and he can breathe again. 

“Dude! You made it!” Nino has made it over to them, and he pulls Adrien into a quick hug. Marinette rushes forward to take Kagami’s hand and pulls her over to the stage, and the girls are quickly laughing together. Whatever tension had been there when he arrived, whatever that was, had dissipated. Adrien nods along as Nino talks him through the plan for the concert, his mind tumbling. He doesn’t notice when Nino shakes his head and walks away. 

The keyboard is set up for him already. He runs his fingers over the keys lightly. 

“Glad you could join the band again.” Luka’s soft voice startles him. When Adrien looks up, Luka is offering him a hand. Adrien takes it, and forces himself to smile. Luka is infuriatingly impassive. He hasn’t taken the jacket off, and it doesn’t look like he plans to. 

“Thanks for having me,” Adrien hears himself say. The appropriate response, he knows, the polite response. Luka retreats from the handshake first, tucking his hands into the pockets of his new jacket. Adrien nods to it. 

“Is that one of Marinette’s?” Why is he making conversation about this? And can someone please come to get him out of it? 

Luka smiles, and Adrien would almost call it wistful. Like Luka knows something Adrien doesn’t. Had Marinette confessed about the hearts to him? Or maybe Luka knows, like Adrien knows, how much it means that Marinette made him something special like that. Maybe he likes that Marinette had been thinking about him. For days, Adrien notes, eyeing the details he can see up close now. That jacket was definitely not a one night project. Marinette had lost sleep over it. He makes a fist by his side and squeezes as tight as he can before he lets it relax. It doesn’t escape Luka’s notice. 

“Yeah, it is,” Luka meets Adrien’s eyes calmly, but it feels more like a challenge. “She’s incredibly talented, isn’t she?” 

Adrien swallows past the lump in his throat. “You know, she signs her designs.” Damn his burning curiosity. He just has to know. Luka nods, opening the left side of the jacket for Adrien to see. There it is, the curled script of Marinette’s unmistakable signature. She had embroidered it on the inside breast pocket. A good hiding spot. Also right next to Luka’s heart. Adrien feels sick. 

He turns to look over to the group of girls, taking selfies. Marinette has her arm around Kagami, her other arm holding the phone out to take the picture. Kagami has relaxed, as much as Kagami relaxes, and she’s smiling. Marinette has that ability with people, to bring them out of their shells, to make them shine. Adrien wonders if he lights up like that around her, too. If any of Marinette’s spark has rubbed off on him, just by being her friend. 

When he turns back, Luka has slipped away as quietly as he came. He’s sitting off the edge of the stage now, idly strumming on his guitar, his back turned to everything. 

Adrien realizes when he sees the Kitty Section logo that this isn’t something he can do all night long. He can’t keep noticing the care that Marinette put into her work. He can’t play the keyboard with Luka in front of him, not flaunting exactly, but definitely basking in Marinette’s attention. Who wouldn’t bask in her attention? 

But he can’t just leave. He came here with Kagami. She wanted to see him play. And if he stays and performs, even if Marinette does have her eyes on Luka, she might happen to glance over to Adrien. She might wave to him. She might dance to the band’s music. He pulls his eyes back to the keyboard in front of him. He had offered to play with the band. That’s why he was here.

He senses movement out of the corner of his eye. When he turns his head again, Kagami is waving to him from across the stage. He waves back automatically. She nods her head back towards the group, a silent invitation to come sit next to her. But his feet just feel glued to the stage. Marinette follows Kagami’s gaze until her eyes land on him. He can feel his cheeks heat up and his hand goes to the nape of his neck. His heart is pounding. 

The only one he’s ever felt this giddy around has always been Ladybug. But he’s always needed the mask with her. He’s always needed to put up his front with Ladybug and keep his civilian life closed off from her. And he would have to, if he wanted to keep being Chat Noir. Not that anything with anyone else would be any easier, having to hide his superhero activities. 

It hits him then that all he wants to do is transform and run. He needs to think. He needs to sort himself out. Maybe if he just goes for a quick run in the suit, it’ll give him the strength to do the second set with the band. Maybe he could ask Ladybug to meet him. If his feelings have changed, he’ll know as soon as he sees her. She’s his best friend, the one he trusts with his life. She would show up for him, he knows. 

He taps Nino on the shoulder to get his attention. 

“I’m not feeling well, can you cover for me for a minute?” 

Nino nods, barely looking up from the sound system. “Yeah, dude, I’ll let the others know. Think you’ll be back by showtime?” 

“I think I can make the second set.” 

Nino nods again, and Adrien scurries off the deck as fast as he can without looking like he’s running. Why does he always seem to be running away from Marinette? 

He calls for his transformation as soon as he’s ducked into a quiet alley. He pings Ladybug and takes a deep breath before he extends his baton to start his run over the rooftops towards the Eiffel Tower.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Next chapter, Marinette reluctantly leaves the concert to go meet Chat Noir and have a heart to heart.


	5. Tangled Threads

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette leaves the concert to go talk to Chat, but their heart to heart quickly goes haywire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter does briefly detail a panic attack caused by a post-traumatic flashback. I've provided a short summary at the end of this chapter for anyone who might not feel comfortable reading.

Marinette swipes through her phone, reviewing the selfies she and Kagami had taken and looking for one to post. They all look about the same except for… that one. Kagami is hiding a giggle with her hand in that one. She leans over to show Kagami, but Kagami isn’t paying attention. Her eyes are across the deck, and she tilts her head to the space next to her.

She follows Kagami’s eyes and of course she’s staring at Adrien. Who wouldn’t stare at Adrien? As Marinette watches, he starts to blush and his hand goes behind his head in his all too familiar gesture. She drops her eyes quickly, terrified she’s intruded on some moment they were having. She’ll have to get used to this at some point. And Kagami and Adrien are kind of cute together. He really does seem to like her. 

Besides, she thinks, she’s not much different from the probably hundreds of fans that will be disappointed when the news comes out about them. The only difference is that she’ll still have Adrien as a friend. And that’s better than not knowing him at all, any day. She captions the picture and posts it. She can show Kagami later, after the band performs. 

When Marinette looks back up, everyone is starting to take their places on stage. Everyone except… where did Adrien go? The spot behind the keyboard is empty. She swivels her head, searching for him, but he’s nowhere on deck. Maybe he went below for something? She nudges Kagami. She had been watching, she would know. 

“Did you see where Adrien went?” 

“He talked to Nino and then he left.” Kagami has an unusual strain in her voice. 

He left? But he was here with Kagami. Why would he just leave without her? Marinette is about to open her mouth to ask if Kagami's okay when Tikki nudges her thigh from inside her purse. It's the signal they've worked out for when Chat pings her if she's not Ladybug. 

Now. He wants to talk to her now? He's had all week, but he chooses this moment. She shakes her head out of pure frustration. For a second, her concern for Adrien spars with her worry for Chat. She sneaks a glance at Alya. She's setting up her phone to record the band. Not an akuma, then. Alya has an alert on her phone set to go off for akumas. Maybe Chat can wait? 

She makes her way over to Nino.

"Hey, Nino, do you know where Adrien went?" 

Nino doesn't look up from his work, nodding along to the sound checks in his headphones. "He said he wasn't feeling well. He'll be back for the second set." 

Well that explains nothing. But at least he'll be back soon. Tikki presses against her thigh again. She has to go meet Chat. Whatever he needs to say, it must be important. 

"I'm gonna go... check on Adrien. Yeah. I'll be back." 

Nino lowers his headphones and raises his eyebrows. He glances over to Alya and Marinette knows they're sharing that automatic communication they have. Maybe that wasn't her best excuse, but it was the quickest one she could come up with. 

"You should definitely go check on him. Not that you should say anything else to him, though, because what else would you need to say to him, right? Just go and check on him and...make sure he’s okay." Nino finally says. She turns to look back at Alya, and Alya stops miming for Nino to shut up before she flashes Marinette a thumbs up. Oh.  _ Oh. _ Right. She gives a weak thumbs up back before she speed walks away to transform. 

* * *

When she swings onto the viewing platform of the Eiffel Tower, Chat is sitting with his legs dangling off the edge, swinging his heels back and forth, reclined back on his palms. He would almost look relaxed if it weren't for his tail twitching across the roof. He's thinking hard about something. One of his cat ears flicks towards her when she lands. He knows she's there. She takes a seat next to him without saying anything. 

After a beat or two of silence, she can't stand it anymore. She reaches over to jingle the bell at his neck. 

"You rang?"

He stiffens at her touch before he sighs deeply, looking down at the space on the roof between their hands. He’s never been this quiet. Her worry is increasing by the second, each one dragging out indefinitely. 

Finally, he meets her eyes. “Can I ask you something?” 

"You know you can tell me anything." 

"Right. Well, this is a bit awkward for me. I guess I just… I don't know. I'm confused." 

She nods. She'd been expecting this conversation. And it makes more sense that he would want to come out to Ladybug. He's spent more time with her, as far as he knows. She settles her face into a neutral expression, hoping she can be there for him. She'll probably have to pull it out of him. As much as Chat talks, he hardly stays serious for long. 

"Was there a question in there?" She prompts him, bumping his shoulder lightly with hers. He bumps back half-heartedly. 

"You have to promise you won't get mad." 

"Why would I ever be mad at you, kitty?" 

His cat ears flatten against his head. "I… might've made a civilian friend. As Chat Noir." 

Wait, hold up. Chat's been visiting Luka, too? How much free time does this cat have, anyways? Okay, calm down, let him talk. 

"And this friend. You care about them?" 

"Well, obviously, yeah. But I went to visit her the other night-"

Her? 

"-and she was making something for this other boy. Something really special. She's never made anything like that for me before. And it’s not that I expect her to or anything, it just… caught me off guard, I guess. Because I know how much she likes him." 

Tikki was right. Chat's feelings had changed, but it wasn't for Luka. He was jealous of Marinette. That's why he ran off. That's why he hasn't been back to see her. That's why he's confused. Deep breaths. Calm down. He can't know how badly she's freaking out. 

"And then when I saw what she made him… it's beautiful, Bug, she's so talented. It's amazing. She's amazing."

She hadn't shown Chat the final product. He hadn't been back to see her. There is no way—absolutely no way—he could know what she made. Unless… 

It was just their small group on the boat tonight when she gave that jacket to Luka. Only one of them was missing when she left to transform. One who made a lame excuse before disappearing. One who was very vague about where he was going. 

Adrien. 

Which explains a lot. Like how Chat Noir figured out she was Ladybug before. Because Adrien figured it out before. And she knows the consequences of Chat Noir knowing her secret identity. Is this how it happens this time?

She glances around as he continues, only half processing him talking about his dilemma. Eiffel tower. Moon is rising. Chat Noir is beside her. She starts scanning for purple butterflies on the horizon. 

"I guess what I'm trying to ask is, do you think we’ll ever be more than just partners?" 

She blinks back into the present, back to his pleading green eyes. 

_ It was our love that did this to the world.  _

She scrambles to her feet, backing away, putting as much distance as she can between them. Chat turns and stands to follow her, and the movement is too similar. In her mind, she sees the white suit instead of the black. Blue eyes burning from behind his mask. He walks towards her with open arms, his palms out, concern written plainly on his face. He doesn't know. He doesn't understand. Her heart is jumping from her throat to her ears, and the white noise of her blood rushing is all she hears. 

He’s still coming towards her. She puts out a hand to stop him, and he does, dropping his arms to his sides. She can see the hurt written on his face. He had asked her not to get mad but she can’t form the words to tell him what’s happening. That she’s not mad. That it’s not his fault. That she does love him. 

That she's loved him before. 

"Ladybug?" 

Her breath releases in a whoosh, and she drags in another one. First there's the relief of not hearing her name. Almost instantly replaced by her guilt for reacting like she did. She blinks back the tears springing to her eyes, hiding her face with her hands. 

"I'm so sorry, Chat. I thought I could do this, but I just can't. I'm so sorry. I can't." 

"Milady, talk to me. What's wrong?" 

She uncovers her eyes, and he's her partner again, the one who's been by her side through everything. She wishes she could tell him. She opens her mouth to speak again but no words come out. Instead she rushes into his arms, needing the solid comfort of his heartbeat. He's stunned for a moment before he wraps his arms tightly around her shoulders, pressing her to him and resting his chin on her head. 

"It's you and me against the world, Milady. Always." 

She takes a deep breath in, holding it before letting it out slowly. A rumbling purr starts deep in his chest. She had come here to help him, and here he is comforting her. Her tears start to fall, pooling between her cheek and his chest. She should tell him. She has to. If she explains, he’ll understand. She pulls away from him and wipes her eyes. 

"I'm sorry, Chat.  I promise I'll explain. Just… not right now, okay?" 

"I trust you," he says, and she can almost feel his unwavering confidence in her. She squeezes his hand once before she pulls out her yoyo. She realizes she doesn't know where she wants to go. She doesn't want to leave him like this, but she can't stay.

She wishes she could go home and curl up in her bed under her covers. But she needs to get back to the concert before Adrien. She needs to act as normal as possible. Just get through tonight and they'll talk later. 

With her destination in mind, she slings her yoyo as far as she can, glancing back at Chat once before swinging away. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short summary of what happened in this chapter: Marinette notices that Adrien isn't on the boat anymore. When she asks Nino where he went, he tells her Adrien wasn't feeling well and left. Chat is trying to get ahold of Ladybug, so as an excuse to leave and transform, Marinette tells Nino she'll go check on Adrien. When she meets Chat Noir as Ladybug, Chat tries to explain that he's confused because Marinette made that jacket for Luka and unknowingly exposes his identity as Adrien. Marinette is worried about a Chat Blanc repeat and struggles with telling Chat (who she now knows is Adrien) they can't be together. Chat comforts her enough that she can yoyo away back to the concert. 
> 
> Thank you for reading! Next chapter, Adrien tries to process what happened with Ladybug. But why does everyone have the impression that he's hurt Marinette?


	6. Broken Threads

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How did everything go wrong so quickly?

What. The hell. Just happened. 

When he asked Ladybug what he knew was a sensitive question, he had expected a gentle decline, maybe a smile as if he were teasing her, maybe—in his wildest dreams—she would say yes and fall into his arms and they would live happily ever after. 

But the look of pure panic. The way she backed away from him. The terror on her face as he walked towards her. Then she ran into his arms and started crying before she just ran off. 

What is he supposed to take from that?

She said she’ll explain. He just has to have faith in her. 

Just get through tonight then. Go back to the concert and play the second set. Get out of it as fast as he can and walk Kagami home and then… 

Then what? Apologize profusely to his bodyguard, hope his father hasn’t noticed his absence, collapse on his bed, and wait for Ladybug to contact him? Sigh despondently while Plagg makes fun of him, hoping that Ladybug's explanation is not a flat out refusal, but maybe a confession of her love for him? 

Visit Marinette? No. Bad idea, horrible idea, terribly stupid idea. 

Just start with getting back to the concert. He's probably used up the time that he had bought himself, and the others are probably wondering where he went. Hopefully no one tried to follow him and found that he had disappeared. He unlatches his baton and opens it so he can step off the high platform of the Eiffel tower and helicopter down.

* * *

When he gets back to the houseboat, the band is taking a break. He had timed it well. But as he mounts the steps again, Nino pulls him aside. 

"Dude, spill. What happened with Marinette?" 

"Marinette?" 

"Yeah, she went to check on you and she just got back a bit ago. Did you two talk?" 

What’s with Nino? His tone is urgent, on the verge of being aggressive. Protective. Alarm bells start to go off in Adrien’s head as he processes what Nino said. Marinette followed him? Did she see him transform? Does she know? He scans the deck, looking for Marinette, but he doesn’t see her. 

“Where is she?"

“She went below with Luka.” 

“ _Luka?”_ Adrien pushes past Nino and strides onto the deck. He reaches the stairs to below deck and pauses. What exactly is he doing? As he hesitates, Marinette emerges. He’s frozen as she mounts the stairs towards him, her head down. She lifts her eyes when she gets to the top and meets his. Her lips part in surprise, but she quickly closes them. She’s been crying. Why is Marinette crying? She blushes deeply and pulls the sleeves of the hoodie she’s wearing down over the heels of her hands. 

Marinette doesn’t usually wear a hoodie.

Realization hits him like a baseball bat to the stomach. He staggers a step backwards. It’s Luka’s hoodie. Marinette is wearing Luka’s hoodie. 

She drops her eyes and slides past him, her head lowered. She crosses the deck to sit between Alya and Kagami. He can see Alya ask her something, and Marinette shakes her head, a small, sad smile on her face. Alya puts an arm around her and shoots Adrien a dark look. 

He hears Luka step up a moment later, and his head turns back to the entrance to below deck. Luka’s eyes catch on Adrien’s as well. There’s a hard set to his face and something is bubbling under his usual calm. He’s the one clenching his fist at his side this time. 

What. The hell. Is happening? Why is Marinette upset? And why is everyone apparently mad at him? 

Luka takes a deep breath and his brief charge of electricity dissipates. He shakes his hand out at his side before he continues past Adrien, slapping him on the shoulder as he passes. 

“Ready to play?” 

“Y-yeah.” When Adrien turns to walk up to the stage, he can’t help but look over to Marinette again. She has her face turned to the river, and she seems to have calmed down. But her light has been pulled entirely inward. She’s closed off to everyone, an island unto herself. Luka’s hoodie dwarfs her. His eyes slide over to Kagami and she meets his gaze evenly. She nods to him. It feels like a life raft when everyone else has set him adrift. He nods back. 

He trips on the ledge of the stage. Luka throws out a hand to catch him, and Adrien just barely manages to grab it. Luka helps him steady himself. The storm behind Luka’s calm is back. He’s slipped on his stage mask already, and his hood is up, but Adrien almost feels like Luka’s glowering at him now that his eyes are hidden. Adrien takes his place at the keyboard behind Luka, and Luka twirls the guitar pick through his fingers with a flourish, waiting for Ivan to count them off. 

When the music starts up, Adrien thanks any little bit of luck he has that he practiced enough that his muscle memory can carry him through. He hits several false notes to begin with, but he falls into the rhythm of Kitty Section’s music, the deafening noise around him drowning out his racing thoughts. 

Luka’s chords have more raw energy behind them, like he’s pouring more emotion into the instrument than normal. He glances back a few times to catch Adrien’s beat, but every time he does, the light glints off the studs on Luka’s jacket and Adrien feels his jaw clench more and more. He dares to look over to the girls only once. Marinette and Kagami are somehow having a conversation through the music. 

Adrien zones out for the rest of it, focusing on his fingers working on the keys. Luka hits the final chord, swinging his arm up into the air and holding it there until the note rings out. The girls are clapping and whooping, and Alya breaks away to stop the recording on her phone. Luka sweeps his hood off by the mask and shakes out his hair before he unslings the guitar strap from his shoulder. Adrien slips out from behind the keyboard. 

He wants to talk with Marinette. But he checks his phone discreetly and he has some missed calls from Nathalie. There’s a few notifications from his social media he’ll check later. He has to leave. He catches Kagami’s eye and indicates the riverbank with his head. She nods and excuses herself from the group. Adrien waves to the group in general, and Kagami takes his other hand. Marinette smiles at them. Adrien looks away, swallowing his words, and helps Kagami down the stairs. 

They walk along the riverbank in silence. He can’t tell if Kagami knows something is wrong but doesn’t know how to bring it up, or if she thinks they’re just sharing a comfortable silence. For Adrien, it’s anything but comfortable. His mind is still churning. He didn’t get a chance to ask anyone what happened with Marinette while he was gone. It all happened so fast. 

When they reach the Pont des Arts, where he had met Kagami that afternoon, she takes his hands in hers. 

“Thank you for inviting me tonight, Adrien.” 

He nods. He is glad she was there tonight. He looks down and squeezes her hands as his answer. 

“And I’m glad you talked with Marinette. That must’ve been hard for both of you.” 

His head snaps up at this. “Why does everyone think I talked with Marinette tonight?” 

Kagami’s brow furrows and she blinks back at him. “She told me you did.” 

“What are you talking about?” His throat feels tight again. Why would Marinette say they had talked when they didn’t? Marinette hates liars. Why would she lie to Kagami like that? Kagami seems to have come to the same conclusion. There’s a beat of silence between them. 

“Adrien, did you talk to Marinette tonight or didn’t you?” 

“I didn’t!” 

She looks down at their hands before she pulls away from him. When she looks back up at him, there’s an odd look in her eyes. Adrien would almost call it defeat. But that doesn’t make sense. None of this makes sense. 

“You should. Talk to her, I mean.” She takes a step backwards. “Goodbye, Adrien.” 

The way she says it. It’s something final. A decision. She nods once, before she sets her jaw and turns to walk away from him. 

The cool night air hits something wet on his cheeks. 

Numbly, he takes out his phone to call Nathalie back. He has a notification that Marinette posted something tonight. He wipes his eyes hurriedly and clicks on it. It’s a selfie of her and Kagami, both of them smiling, Marinette’s arm around Kagami’s shoulders. He reads the caption: _Look who I got to see at the Kitty Section concert tonight! So glad we’re friends!_ His eyes travel back over Marinette’s face, and he touches his fingers to her bright smile on the screen. 

His head turns to the direction of Marinette’s balcony. It’s a bad idea, a horrible idea, a terribly stupid idea.

But he has to know. He pushes his feet to move, and before he realizes it he’s running again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Hang in there, the happy ending is in sight! Next chapter, what exactly happened between Marinette and Luka? And Marinette is not prepared to talk to Adrien. Like at all.


	7. Seam Ripper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette has a talk with Luka

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to say thank you to everyone who's been reading this story, commenting and/or leaving kudos <3 You all are awesome, and I hope you know that every time I've been down on my writing, or thought about abandoning this story, I reread your kind words and it really encourages me to keep going. Without further ado...

Ladybug barely registers when she touches down in an alley near the houseboat. Adrien. Adrien is her partner. Adrien is the one she left, hurting and confused on top of the Eiffel tower. Why did it have to be him? Of course it had to be him. The one boy she’s already desperately trying to let go of, trying to let him be happy, trying to just be his friend. 

She calls for spots off. When Tikki appears, she butts her head into Marinette’s cheek and Marinette cuddles her back. Tikki understands. And that’s enough to calm Marinette down. When Tikki breaks apart from her, Marinette opens her purse so Tikki can hide. Then she takes a deep breath and puts one foot in front of the other, heading for the boat. 

When she gets on deck, Nino takes one look at her and steps down from the sound system. The band finishes their song, and Nino mimes for them to take a minute. Alya hurries over to them. Marinette doesn't want this attention. She must look a mess. She waves them off, smiling as best as she can, and brushes past them, headed for the quiet of below deck. Just a minute to compose herself before Adrien gets back. That’s all she needs. 

She curls into a ball on the couch in the main living area, tucking her knees under her chin and wrapping her arms around them. She had thought the quiet would help, but instead it’s deafening, suffocating. Adrien is her Chat Noir. Chat Noir loves Ladybug. Adrien loves Ladybug. But Chat had called Ladybug there to talk about Marinette. But Adrien is with Kagami. 

“Marinette?” Luka calls from behind her. She doesn’t turn to look. Something like a blanket gets laid gently over her shoulders and she gets a whoosh of the scent. It’s like soap, just something barely there, but still clean and comforting. With her eyes down, she can see Luka’s feet as he takes a seat diagonally from her. He isn’t saying anything. Just being there with her. She lifts her eyes. He’s not watching her, either. He has his head leaned back, eyes closed, his brow furrowed deeply, strumming on an invisible guitar. Her curiosity overcomes her. 

“What do you hear?” 

His eyes open, but they stay on the ceiling. “It’s...kind of a jumble, like all the notes are trying to play at once.” His fingers dart over the imaginary fretboard. She nods. Yeah, that’s about what it feels like. “Do you want to talk about it?” 

She does. She really really does. But she can’t. 

_You can tell me everything. Or nothing, if you prefer._

"If it was between saving the world and being with someone you love, which would you choose?" She blurts the question out before she can rethink it. 

"I guess it depends. Why are you the one that has to save the world?” He gives her question back to her like it’s rhetorical. She can answer, or not. 

She sighs. If only she had thought to bring Sass with her tonight. She could’ve talked this out with Luka, told him everything, using the Second Chance as many times as she needed before resetting it and he would forget everything she said. But that wouldn’t be fair to Luka and that’s _not_ what the Miraculous were for. This is why Luka is Viperion. He would never abuse Sass like that. He's okay with just letting things be. 

His fingers pause and his eyes fall on her. When they lock eyes, she just knows. Luka already has it figured out. He's known she’s Ladybug for a while. He kept it to himself for her sake. She drops her eyes and uncurls to set her feet on the floor, pushing her arms through the sleeves of what must be Luka’s hoodie around her shoulders. Her hands fall to her lap, and she fiddles with the hem of the sleeve.

“How long have you known?” 

She can feel him shift his weight forward. “For sure? Desperada. With the lyre in my hand, keeping an eye on you and Chat Noir, all I could hear was your song.”

For some reason, his words bring a blush to her cheeks. She glances over at him. He’s nice. Laid-back. Quiet, even though he has a lot to say. Patient. Perceptive. And he's sweet. Very sweet. 

_You are the music that's been playing inside my head since the day we first met._

Luka has told her. A few times now. Exactly how he feels. How does he do that? The simple answer is because he knows exactly how he feels. If only things were that simple for her. 

Her eyes catch on the piping of his jacket. She had mimicked Chat Noir’s costume for it, just repeated the pattern in different ways. Even when she had been designing for Luka, Adrien apparently hadn’t been far from her thoughts. How is she supposed to just let him go? She needs to. It’s up to her to save the world because she’s the one responsible for Chat Blanc. He told her so himself. She _can’t_ love Chat Noir. She _can’t_ love Adrien. 

There’s just too much at stake. If she has to choose between herself and the world, then she has to choose the world. It’s her responsibility as Ladybug, and as the Guardian. Besides, if she ever gives up being the Guardian, she won’t even remember Chat Noir, let alone remember that she loves him. A dark splotch appears on her jeans when a tear falls, and she realizes that she’s started crying. Why is this so complicated? 

Luka’s hand falls on her shoulder, and she brings her head up to look at him properly. She wipes her eyes with the sleeve of his hoodie. There’s no point in hiding her tears from him, but she still feels like she should at least try. Their eyes meet again, and she can feel the outpouring of support from him. 

“Everything okay down there?” Nino asks from above. 

“Yeah, be up in a sec,” Luka answers. He squeezes Marinette’s shoulder once before he stands, offering her a hand to help her up. When she gets to her feet, standing so close to him, the solution hits her, like the solution to her Lucky Charm. Why should she have to choose between herself and the world? She looks up at Luka. Why does it have to be complicated? 

Luka must’ve sensed some change in her. He takes a quick step backwards and he runs his fingers through his hair. 

“Um, Marinette, I...” 

His face is flushed, and he's avoiding looking at her. He keeps opening his mouth like he's about to say something, then shutting it again. She’s never seen him flustered like this before. He always knows the right thing to say at the right time. Maybe that’s the problem, though. Maybe what he wants to say is the right thing. Just not what she wants to hear. She wraps her arms around herself as a shield against whatever he’s about to say. He takes a deep breath and lets it out as a sigh. 

“I don’t want to be your Second Chance,” he finally says, glancing up at her through his bangs. 

She nods, but she can feel the tears springing to her eyes again. She dries them before they can fall. Of course he notices; he notices everything. He comes back towards her, laying a gentle hand on her elbow, which stops her from swiping at her eyes. He cradles the side of her head in his hand and wipes the tears off her cheek with his thumb. Her heart isn’t pounding like it does when Adrien touches her, but she still knows this is something important. Something different. 

“I don’t want this to be because you think you can’t have someone else,” he clarifies, and his calm washes over her. He continues to stroke her cheek even after her tears stop. “You should talk to him. Tell him how you feel.” 

For the first time, she can see the tightly concealed pain in Luka’s eyes. Pain that she caused.

She lets her head fall forward into his chest, wrapping her arms loosely around his waist. His arm settles on her shoulders and he leans his head against hers. 

“Come on,” he says after a moment, tapping her shoulder lightly, “we better get back up there.” 

She nods against his chest before she pulls away. “Thank you, Luka.” 

He nods back to her, but he looks away quickly and she can see his jaw tensing. He doesn’t want her to see him like this. She hesitates before she turns to walk away from him, wiping the fresh tears away. 

She keeps her head down as she goes up the steps. It feels too heavy to lift. But when she reaches the top, something pulls her attention up. Adrien. He’s standing at the top like he was about to rush downstairs. But he’s just standing there, frozen, staring at her. If she didn’t look a mess before, she definitely does now. She pulls the wet sleeves of Luka’s hoodie down over the heels of her hands, trying to conceal how much she’s been crying tonight. Adrien takes a surprised step backwards. She lowers her eyes again to slip past him. They do need to talk. But she can’t right now. 

“Girl, who do I need to kill?” Alya asks as Marinette walks up, reaching out to take Marinette’s hand and pull her down to sit in between her and Kagami. Marinette smiles at the joke and shakes her head. Alya puts her arm around Marinette's shoulders and they lean their heads together. 

She notices Luka come up a second behind her and he claps Adrien’s shoulder before he walks towards the stage. He probably knows about Adrien being Chat Noir, too. Is there anything Luka hasn’t picked up on?

She turns her head to watch the lights dance over the river. She tries to get back to the calm she felt with Luka. The band starts, but the music washes over her in a blur of sound. What is she going to tell Adrien when they’re done playing? How is she supposed to talk to him now? She pushes the thoughts away, letting herself zone out. 

“I’m sorry for the way things went,” Kagami says next to her, raising her voice to be heard over the music. Marinette blinks as she pulls herself back. She doesn't know how much time has passed, but the band is still playing. She turns to Kagami, still half in a daze. 

"Yeah, um, thanks? I guess?" 

“You talked with Adrien, right?” 

Marinette nods, the pieces fitting together in her head. She had told Nino she was going to check on Adrien. She came back upset. Right. 

"Yeah, we talked." That was safe to say; she did actually talk with Adrien, anyways, so it's not really a lie. Kagami waits until Marinette meets her eyes. 

"You're the one person I didn't want to hurt, Marinette. I hope we can still be friends." 

"Of course we're still friends," Marinette turns more fully to Kagami and clutches at Kagami's hands in her lap. Kagami seems unsettled at first by the contact, but she takes Marinette’s hands and smiles. 

“I’m glad to know you.” 

Marinette squeezes her hands as an answer before she turns her attention back to the band. They seem to be wrapping up, which is a relief. The lights are glinting off the studs on Luka’s jacket, making him stand out on stage, just like she hoped. She glances over to Adrien and he seems subdued, barely paying attention. He must be worried about Ladybug. 

Luka plays the final note and it rings around her as he poses. She wishes tonight hadn’t gone so sideways. She really did want to see him play in the jacket she made.

“I’m afraid I have to go. Thank you for tonight.” Kagami does a small bow to the group before she turns, meeting Adrien at the stairs and taking his hand. Marinette’s eyes meet with Adrien’s, and she smiles at him. If she can give him anything tonight, it’s a small reassurance that she’s okay. Whatever happens, she’s okay. He lowers his eyes quickly and helps Kagami down the stairs. 

* * *

Back in her room, she lays Luka’s hoodie over the back of her desk chair. She had offered it back to him, but he insisted the night was cold and she could bring it back to him later. Alya had pestered her more about what happened, but she had managed to get away from the group with the excuse of having to get up early to help her parents in the bakery. 

She’s drawn again to the chest in the corner of her room. Adrien thinks she never made anything special for him. That’s what he had said as Chat. She opens the lid to look at all the treasures she’s made but never had the confidence to give to him. She starts to unpack them one by one, remembering the thoughts she had about him with each one.

Mittens, in the same soft blue as the scarf she made him, because he complained to Nino a few times about his hands being cold. Fabric bookmarks with funny faces, to make him smile and think of her when he was studying. The clumsy attempt at a sweater for him in dark green. A prototype of the beret she ended up giving to him as Ladybug. 

She’s sitting in a half-circle of her warm thoughts about Adrien, her knees tucked into her chin again, when she hears a tap on her window. 

On the other side of the glass, his green eyes are glowing. He wouldn’t be here unless something were bothering him. And she has a feeling she might know what it is this time. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh. Hurting Luka sucked so much... but I don't think he'd ever let himself be Marinette's second choice. Thank you so much for reading! The next chapter is the one I've personally been waiting on, these two knuckleheads finally talk to each other.
> 
> Psst... if you're looking for the Lukanette ending for this fic, it's [over here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24779743/chapters/59920204) and picks up right after this chapter


	8. Serged Seam

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat Noir visits Marinette and a few things come to light

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh! I apologize for the delay on this one, I had to bang their heads together a bit to get them to talk.

When Marinette opens the window to let him in, he notices a few things before his boots even hit the floor. First, Luka’s hoodie is hung over the back of her desk chair. Second, there’s a small pile of knick knacks clearly made by Marinette’s hands arranged on the floor in a haphazard half circle. And third, the chest in the corner of her room that’s always closed when he comes to visit has the lid wide open. He steps over the pile to crouch in the epicenter. 

Marinette hasn’t said anything, which is strange. She’s frozen by the window, watching him. His attention is drawn to a spot of sky blue in front of him. He picks up the mittens gingerly, rubbing the knitted fabric between his thumb and forefinger. It matches his scarf exactly. He has no way to ask her without revealing his identity. But he really doesn’t have to. He remembers complaining to Nino that his hands were always cold because he couldn’t find any gloves to match the scarf. At the time, he couldn’t figure out why Alya had nudged Marinette’s ribs with her elbow. Why Marinette had smiled back at her, blushing, before she noticed him watching and hid her face behind her hands. 

Marinette made him his favorite scarf. Let him believe it was from his father. Made these mittens for him and never said anything. He sets them back down on the floor, touching the other items in turn until he gets to something that looks a lot like the beret from his fan club in Brazil. The one Ladybug had delivered. Was that actually from Marinette, too? Had she been making him these special things in secret?

He looks up and Marinette is still standing by the open window, but when his eyes catch on hers, she squeaks and goes the brightest shade of red he’s ever seen. 

“Marinette?” 

She presses her hands over her face. He turns instead to the chest behind him, which must be the source of these treasures he’s found. He catches a glimpse of a pile of different objects before Marinette crosses the room in a few strides to shut the lid resolutely. She won’t look at him.

He stands from his crouch and takes a tentative step forward. Her breath catches when he reaches down to take her hand off the lid before he opens it again. She doesn’t stop him, but she fidgets nervously off to the side. 

Inside the chest, there are enough gifts that Marinette could easily give one a day for months. Little things, but clearly thoughtfully made. His eyes bounce around, catching mostly on things he knows he’s thought about aloud before. Marinette thinks about Adrien enough to make things for him in her spare time. She holds onto them, though. Why? Why doesn’t she want him to know how much she cares for him? Doesn’t she know what that would mean to him? Doesn’t she know how much he cares for her? 

His knees give out underneath him and he sits on the chaise behind him, holding a hand to his racing heart. Memories start rushing back to him, flooded with a new light. Dancing with her at Chloe’s party, fencing with her the day he met Kagami, chasing after her at the ice rink, letting her sleep on his shoulder on the train to London. 

How could he have been such an idiot. Plagg had been right the first day he met Marinette. Plagg had been right at the ice rink. Plagg had known the entire time. Marinette has always been more than a friend to him.

“Chat? Are you okay?” 

No, no he’s not. He feels like he’s been hit with a truck. He can’t seem to catch his breath. He’s in love with Marinette. Force to be reckoned with, amazing designer, class president, everyday Ladybug, Marinette. 

He glances again at the open chest and tucked into the corner, covered loosely with some scrap fabric, is something red. Something red with black spots. Something he’s only seen once before in Ladybug’s hands. He stands again to reach for it. It’s not possible. There’s no way he’s that lucky. 

He cradles the Miracle Box between his hands and dares to look at her again. Her freckles are stark against how white she’s gone.

“This belongs to Ladybug,” he says quietly. He already knows the answer to his next question, but he needs to hear her say it. “Why do you have this?”

She hesitates, wringing her hands together. “You weren’t supposed to see that,” she finally manages to mutter, and she tucks a stray strand of hair behind her ear. How had he never noticed her earrings before? Wait. Marinette told Kagami she had talked to Adrien tonight. If Marinette is Ladybug and Marinette admitted to talking to Adrien...

“And do you...I mean, do you know?” 

She nods and he releases a breath he didn’t realize he had been holding. 

“Claws in.” The green light of Plagg’s magic washes over him again. Plagg hovers above his ear before he zips into Adrien’s pocket, probably out of habit. Possibly out of respect. He and Marinette are standing across from each other, the Miracle Box in his hands between them. He should be happy right now. This is everything he never dared to hope for. But Ladybug's panic and Marinette's tears from before come back to him. She’s still uncomfortable even now, bracing her back against the wall. 

He reaches out a hand to her and she hesitates before she takes it. He leads them both to her chaise to sit side by side, his knee barely touching hers. When he glances up, Luka’s hoodie makes a lump form in his throat. Maybe he’s too late. Maybe finding out he’s Chat Noir scared her off. Finding out that his Ladybug is none other than Marinette Dupain-Cheng is definitely terrifying him. 

“So, I guess we should talk?” He ventures to ask, passing the Miracle Box over to her. She sits with it in her lap, toying with the closure. Thinking. “Does this mean we have to give up our Miraculous?” He puts a protective hand over Plagg, and he can feel his kwami quivering. 

“I’ve been talking with Tikki about it.” 

“And?” 

“I was hoping this wouldn’t happen.” She starts to worry at her lip with her teeth. “I was hoping I wouldn’t have to make the choice.” 

She shouldn’t have to, not alone anyways. Not while he was sitting next to her. “You shouldn’t have to stop being Ladybug.” He spins his ring around his finger. “I’ll give up being Chat Noir if I have to.” 

Her hand comes over to cover his, and she sets the Box to her side before she turns to face him. 

“Don’t.” 

She squeezes his hands before she retreats again. But she’s looking around her room now, like he’s seen her do before when she’s trying to find the solution to her Lucky Charm. 

“Something’s different this time,” she mutters to herself. 

“This time?” 

She nods, her eyes still flitting around the room. He waits, picking at his fingernails impatiently, for her to come back to him. Her eyes do finally fall back on him. But she jolts off the chaise, scrambling and stuttering like he had surprised her. She composes herself relatively quickly. 

“Sorry, I forgot I wasn’t… talking to Chat.” She blushes all the way to the roots of her hair. 

A few of the missing dots connect in his head. He blushes in return, his hand finding the nape of his neck. “Milady… I have to ask. The boy you’re in love with…” 

Marinette’s eyes widen and she backs away from him, her hands fluttering around her face nervously. “Boy? Oh that boy, the boy that I-I mean, of course I didn’t know-it’s not like if I had known it would’ve been-I mean, we’re friends and I didn’t want to-” 

He waits patiently for the torrent to end. “Why didn’t you tell me?” 

“Tell you? What would I have to tell you? I mean-” 

This time he cuts her off with a timeout signal before she can spiral. “Why didn’t you tell me about the scarf?” If she doesn’t want to go into her feelings tonight, that’s fine. He can wait. However long it takes, he’ll wait. She’s worth waiting for. 

To his surprise, she winces. “You looked really happy that it was from your dad.” 

The full force of her words hits him squarely in the chest. Once again, to his surprise, he starts to chuckle. She gets onto him all the time for sacrificing himself. Now that he thinks about all the sacrifices Marinette must’ve been making, and on her civilian side of the mask to boot, it just strikes him as ridiculous. His chuckle grows into a full-bodied laugh. Marinette giggles with him nervously, not quite understanding his reaction. His laughter fades as quickly as it came, and he stands to take her hands in his. 

“Can I at least have the mittens from you, then?” He has to chuckle again as she stares at their linked hands, her blush covering her cheeks again, a dreamy smile spreading across her face. How had he ever confused her behavior for her being upset with him? It’s so obvious now that he’s paying attention. The boy Ladybug had been in love with the whole time was him. Marinette loves him. 

But her happy energy fades as quickly as it came. She shakes her head and looks up into his eyes again, squeezing his hands before she drops them. The movement is too similar to what just happened with Kagami. It’s not good news then. 

“There’s something else I think we still have to talk about.” 

He has a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach, like he’s about to get a rug pulled from underneath him. Of course he isn’t that lucky. Marinette might’ve loved him before, but she’s moved on now. That’s what this has to be about. He clears his throat, preparing for the worst. 

“So let’s talk about it.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Next chapter is the dreaded Chat Blanc talk and Marinette has to make her choice.


	9. Finishing Stitches

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The much dreaded Chat Blanc discussion and Marinette makes a choice

Marinette fidgets as she tries to find her words. Even though she had known about Adrien being Chat Noir, it’s still different to see him detransformed. He’s Adrien, and he’s so _Adrien_ , and it almost hurts her heart just to look at him. He’s waiting patiently for her to start, although there’s a tinge of worry behind his eyes. 

Just take a deep breath and start. He’s Adrien, but he’s also Chat Noir. He’s her best friend and her partner and she can do this. 

“Um, about...your question earlier. I told you that I would explain.” 

He nods, but she notices his eyes flick off to the side behind her. She wants to take his hands again, to reassure him, but the thought of having Adrien’s hands in hers is strange. She almost wishes he hadn’t detransformed, but then again that wouldn’t make this any easier. 

“Something...happened.” That is not how she meant to start. He sits back down on her chaise and looks up at her, giving her the time she needs to focus. 

A small part of her had hoped Chat would find the Miracle Box and figure it out for himself. If he hadn’t found it, she might not have had the strength to tell him. But now that he had. Now that they have to talk about this. She’s not sure she has the words for it. 

But Bunnix hasn’t shown up yet, and that’s a positive thing. Last time it only took a minute or two. Something’s different this time. Bunnix did say there’s a time for everything. Maybe this time it’s going the way it needs to? Maybe this time, something has changed for the better. 

She takes a deep breath to continue. “I don’t know much about it. Bunnix dragged me to the future and just told me to fix it.” 

He blinks up at her, confused. “Bunnix?”

“Paris was destroyed, everything was destroyed, and Chat Noir…You...” 

He tenses. 

“You were akumatized.” 

She watches his face carefully and she can almost see things click into place. Now that she thinks about it, this probably isn’t the explanation he was expecting. He leans forward, his hands clasped between his knees, and looks at his feet. “How bad was it?” 

“I don’t think-” 

“Marinette, what happened?” 

She sinks to the chaise next to him. “You were all alone.” 

The memory comes back to her of how happy Chat Blanc had been to see Ladybug. Who knows how long he had been stuck like that. Who knows how long he had been alone. She feels the tears welling up in her eyes at the thought, but blinks them away before he can see. His heel has started tapping against the floor nervously. She clears her throat and takes a shaky breath in. 

“You, uh, you knew Ladybug’s name. My name. You wanted to use the Miraculous to make a wish.” 

“Did I hurt you?” 

She shakes her head before she remembers that he’s not looking at her. A dissolving statue of Ladybug drifts to the edges of her memory, but she pushes it away. He doesn’t have to know. She fixed it. It’s okay now. She’s here with him and he’s here with her. She looks over and his hands are clenched tightly around each other, his knuckles almost white, waiting to hear her answer. She reaches over to slide her hand in between his. She shouldn’t lie to him. He deserves to know. 

“I think so.”

He leans his forehead against her hand. She blushes when he places a reverent kiss to her knuckles, his lips lingering for a moment before he pulls back. He clears his throat and leans partway up again, his face hidden by his hair.

“There’s more. Keep going.” He keeps a tight hold on her hand.

She glances around for Bunnix again. Still no sign of her. She almost wishes Bunnix would show up, just to tell her if she’s on the right track or not. If she’s doing the right thing by telling him or not. 

“You said… you wanted to use the wish to put things back the way they were. You wanted us…” she squeezes his hand in hers, “you wanted us to be in love again.” 

“Again?” 

She swallows the lump in her throat. “You said I broke your heart,” she whispers. “You said it was our love that destroyed everything.” 

At this he stands, breaking away from her to pace to the other side of the room. She feels like she’s holding her breath as he processes, his feet finding a rhythm, his eyes far away. Finally, he stills and faces her again.

“Which means your answer to my question is, ‘for the sake of 'everything', we can’t be in love.’” 

She nods, looking back to the Miracle Box at her side. It’s their responsibility. It’s her responsibility. If it’s between her and the world, she has to choose the world. That’s all there is to it. A good superhero listens to her head, and that’s the logical answer.

She hears him start to move again, and when she turns back he’s picked up Luka’s hoodie off the back of her desk chair. 

“So, Luka? He’s your solution?” He doesn’t sound hurt, or angry, just resigned. He walks over to hand it to her. 

She takes it from him, digging her fingers into the soft fabric. Luka wants her to tell Adrien how she feels. It should be simple. Something she just knows. She closes her eyes, taking a quiet moment to listen to her heart beating, her breathing. 

She thinks about Luka. The calm she’s always felt around him. The ease there’s always been between them. 

She thinks about Adrien, the boy who handed her his umbrella in the rain. His kind smile and genuine laugh. 

She thinks about Chat Noir. The way he’s always had every confidence in her, even when she didn’t have any in herself. How it’s always been the two of them, together, up against everything.

Her heart is telling her everything she already knew. She opens her eyes, sighs, and folds the hoodie over in her lap before she sets it aside. Adrien blinks at her, confused again.

“Running away isn’t the answer.” She catches his hand and stands, entwining her fingers with his. She can feel the blush rising to her cheeks, but she wills herself to look into his eyes. “This is. We’ve always been stronger together.” 

His brow furrows before he looks away, his hand tightening around hers. “I thought you said-” 

“I love you, Adrien. I couldn’t stop even if I tried.” The words leave her in a rush, before she can overthink them and hold them back. His head snaps back to her, his eyes wide, and he’s blushing. Adrien Agreste is blushing and she’s holding his hand and she just told him she loves him.

Wait. She just told him she loves him. 

Automatically her other hand claps over her mouth. Adrien hasn’t said anything. He’s in love with Ladybug. What if he doesn’t feel the same about Marinette? What if she just put herself out there like that and he doesn’t-

“I’ve always loved the girl behind the mask.” 

Her hand falls away from her mouth. Adrien is looking at their feet. 

“You’ve always been more than a friend to me, Marinette. I can’t believe I never saw it before.” 

Her heart soars in her chest. Is she hearing this right? Is this really happening? She’s not dreaming, this isn’t an alternate timeline, no akuma in sight? She looks around one more time for Bunnix. 

“But if there’s… even a chance… that I could hurt you…” His tone brings her back to reality. “I didn’t think it was possible. I thought… I thought even if that happened, I could hold it back for you.” 

“Chaton…” She reaches up out of instinct to cup his cheek. The burden she’s been carrying alone all this time is reflected on his face. They share the knowledge now. Maybe that’s what changed. Maybe letting Chat know how much damage he could actually do is what tipped the scales. 

He brings her hand to his lips, kissing the back of her knuckles like he’s done so many times before. It feels like an apology. 

“I’ll give up being Chat Noir,” he says resolutely. “If that’s what it takes to keep you safe.”

“Adrien-” 

“It’s the only solution, Marinette.” 

“That’s not true. We’re partners. We can figure this out.” 

He pauses, looking down at their linked hands. Her heart is pounding in her ears, waiting for his response. 

“You’re right. Of course you’re right.” He takes a deep breath and lets it out as a sigh. 

His phone buzzes insistently in his pocket and he winces. “That’ll be Nathalie. I have to get home.” 

He turns towards the window, hanging onto her hand as he pulls away. “Um, maybe you could swing by on patrol tonight?”

She nods, and the smile he gives her is worth everything that’s happened tonight. He calls for his transformation while their hands are still linked. That’s going to take a lot of getting used to. 

He doesn’t let go until he’s stepped back through her window, his baton extended to the ground. He gives her one last kiss to the back of her hand and then he sets off into the night towards the Agreste mansion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, look at that, one more chapter down! Thank you so much to anyone who's stuck around this far <3 There's still a few things to iron out next chapter... Plagg will try to talk Adrien out of giving up his Miraculous (cause despite what he told Marinette, that's still his plan)... but it's definitely going to be pretty fluffy.


	10. Finishing Touches

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien is convinced giving up his Miraculous is the only way he can safely be with Marinette.

As he makes his way back to the mansion, Adrien knows he’s in for trouble. He swings into a subway tunnel to detransform before shoving his hands in his pockets and walking up to the doors. Sure enough, Nathalie opens them and his father is standing next to her. His father turns to walk away as soon as he sees Adrien, tossing an instruction to Nathalie to “take Adrien up to his room and make sure he stays there,” over his shoulder. 

Nathalie sighs, and lays her arm across Adrien’s shoulders to guide him up to his room. Since it’s where he wants to be anyways, he doesn’t protest. He’ll have to get used to being locked up again if he’s going to give Ladybug his Miraculous when she comes over. No more running across rooftops or throwing himself off the Eiffel Tower. No more fleeing his room when his father grounds him. No more late night runs just to have the night air in his lungs and the wind in his face. 

But it’ll be worth it. Protecting Ladybug—protecting Marinette is all that matters. If this is what it takes to keep her safe, then it has to be done. 

When Nathalie shuts him in, Plagg zips out of his shirt pocket. 

“You can’t give up being Chat Noir!” 

“My mind is made up, Plagg. Ladybug will be here soon.” Adrien turns his back on Plagg to start packing his camembert stash into a small bag. It’s doubtful Marinette has the cheese he likes on hand. Maybe she’ll let him keep buying Plagg’s favorite brand. Maybe even let Plagg come visit sometime. He’d like to still see Plagg occasionally at least. 

“Ladybug needs her partner.” 

“She’ll find some other Chat Noir.”

“I didn’t say she needs another Chat Noir, I said she needs her partner. She needs you.” 

Adrien pauses in his packing and turns to look back at the small kwami. Plagg is serious about this. 

“I love her, Plagg. I have to protect her.” 

“And what if she gets zapped by Hawkmoth while she’s trying to teach some other Chat Noir the ropes?” 

Adrien sits back on his heels. He hadn’t thought of that. Before he can reply, he hears a light tap on his window, and he knows without looking that it’s Marinette. He pops his head up to check that he left the window open, then immediately ducks his head back down, his cheeks hot, as Ladybug steps into his room. 

That’s going to take some getting used to. 

Plagg rushes over to her. “Ladybug! You’re here! Maybe he’ll listen to you.” 

Ladybug glances between Plagg and Adrien, taking in his position on the floor, the bag half-full of camembert. Her eyes narrow at them. 

“What’s going on?” 

Adrien sighs as he stands, his hands coming together so he can fiddle with his ring. He hesitates, and Plagg shakes his head at him. He starts to pull the ring off. 

But Ladybug jumps and lands in front of him, covering his hands with hers and stopping him. 

"What's going on?" Her tone has turned authoritative. 

"He wants to give you his Miraculous," Plagg explains as he flies over to them. 

"But...I thought we agreed-"

"No, we didn't." Adrien sighs. He had hoped to just hand it over, but he should've expected she would push back. "I just needed to get home before I could give it to you." 

"Why would you…?" 

He winces at the pain in her tone. He hated lying to her earlier, but she wouldn't have let him go if she had known his plan. "I got akumatized once, Marinette. It can happen again. And now that I know your identity, it's too dangerous. You should take my Miraculous. Take it and find someone else to be Chat Noir." 

"You really think you're that easy to replace?" Her voice slips out as a whisper. 

He opens his mouth to respond, then shuts it again, the tips of his ears burning. 

"I saved you from it once, I can do it again. As many times as I have to, if that's what it takes."

"You shouldn't have to, though," he mutters. 

"And what if Ladybug gets akumatized? What then? Who else do you think could snap me out of it? Alya? Nino?" She blushes as red as her suit, but sets her jaw to continue. "You're my partner. There's no one I trust more than you."

There's a pause between them. Adrien knows what he needs to tell her, but it's not as easy to talk to her without his mask as he thought. 

"Marinette, I-" he swallows past the lump in his throat, lacing his fingers through hers. "All I want is to keep you safe," he finally manages to admit, "but more than that, I want to be with you." He reaches up to cup her cheek in his hand. "If I give up being Chat Noir, I don't have to choose." 

She shakes her head out of his grasp, tears springing to her eyes. "The only way I can be safe _is_ to be with you! With you as Chat Noir!" 

"And how many times tonight have you looked over your shoulder for Bunnix?" 

She pales as her eyes widen. He's hit the point she didn't want to think about. "As long as I'm still Chat Noir, you'll be waiting for her to show up." 

"That's… that's not…" 

"It is true." 

She shakes her head again, and her tears fly to the floor. "But something's different this time! She hasn't shown up because something has changed." 

"And what changed is I stopped being Chat Noir." How is he this calm right now? There was a time he would've panicked at even the thought of losing Plagg. But now that the choice has to be made, now that it's his decision, a strange peace has washed over him. 

She takes a step back from him. "Tikki, spots off!" 

He closes his eyes against the bright pink light, and when he opens them again, it's Marinette in front of him, clenching her fists and holding back tears. He wants so badly to gather her into his arms, to dry her tears, to tell her it's okay. But the look on her face stops him. It's like she's halfway between anger and despair. 

"You would leave me to go up against Hawkmoth without my partner?" Her voice is low and it wavers slightly, but her point hits just the same. He fiddles with his ring again. 

"If you give it to someone else-"

"There is no one else, Adrien." She squeezes her eyes shut to clear them of tears. When she opens them again, he can see the weight settle on her shoulders, her fire fizzling. She's tired. Tired of fighting. "That's what I've been trying to tell you." She wraps her arms around herself. "Master Fu is gone. There's… no one else who knows what this life is like." She pauses to take a shuddering breath in. "If you give up your Miraculous, I'll be going up against Hawkmoth alone, whether I pick a new Chat Noir or not." 

For the second time, he's at a loss for words. Marinette is trembling, barely an arm's length away from him. All at once, the tears spill over her cheeks and a smile breaks across her face. She looks up at him through her tears, and her vulnerability makes his heart break. 

"It's still you and me against the world, right?" 

Her words pierce through him to wrap around his heart, breaking through every barrier he's built up. He rushes forward to wrap her in a tight hug, holding her to him like she's his everything, his whole world. Because she is. She is and always has been and always will be. She clutches him to her, burying her face in his shoulder, shaking with the force of her emotion. 

"That's right," he murmurs into her hair, "you and me." 

He rubs her back as she cries into his shoulder. He hadn't known how badly she needed him. His ring tugs against the fabric of her jacket. How could he even think that he could've stayed out of the fight? When it comes to this girl in his arms, he would do anything to be by her side, Miraculous or not. They would face Hawkmoth the same way they've done everything else. Together. They're stronger when they're together. 

Marinette sighs into him, her tears petering out, but she doesn't release her grip on him yet. Now that he thinks about it, what if what changed isn't that he gave up his Miraculous. What if it's because they're closer than they've ever been. There's no more secrets. They truly have each other now. Stronger together. Marinette had been right. That's the answer.

She pulls away from him, drying her cheeks with the back of her hand. She lets out a shaky laugh, pointing at his shoulder. When he glances down, his overshirt is soaked through, sticking to the T-shirt underneath. Right then and there he decides he'll never be the reason Marinette cries like that ever again if he can help it. 

He reaches forward to cup her cheek with his hand, swiping away the few stray tears that she can't stop from falling. "I'm so sorry, Marinette," he says, his voice barely above a whisper. "You were right. Running away isn't the answer." 

She closes her eyes and presses her cheek into his hand, bringing her hand up to hold his there. When she opens her eyes again, she seems to remember something, and she digs into the bag at her side, producing the blue mittens he had pointed out earlier. 

"Um, I brought these. For you. To go with your scarf," she admits shyly. "From me." 

As he takes the mittens from her, he rubs the knitted fabric between his thumb and forefinger again, shocked all over again by how much Marinette has always cared for him. When he looks back up at her, it's like everything clicks into place. He steps forward to take her hand in his again. 

"With your permission, Milady?" 

She looks up at him uncertainly, trying to pinpoint his tone, but when her eyes meet his, she understands what he's asking. She nods, using their clasped hands to pull herself up towards him and he meets her halfway, his other arm coming up automatically around her back to support her. 

When their lips meet, it's nothing like what he expected. There are no fireworks exploding around them or sparks behind his eyes. Instead it's the same feeling as when he leaps off a rooftop, trusting his baton to catch him. The way his heart lifts as the wind hits his face, his stomach drops as he falls, that weightless feeling right before he catches himself. Except it’s Marinette that’s catching him as he falls. Marinette that he trusts. 

Without thinking about it, he angles his head to press closer to her. She answers by tilting her head against him, and he falls faster, his heart rate picking up as his adrenaline spikes. Her hand that isn’t entwined with his comes up to brush past his ear, her fingers tangling in his hair at the base of his neck. He tightens his grip around her lower back, lifting her just slightly off the ground. She breaks away and gasps with delight, and he chases after her lips. If this is falling, he never wants to stop. 

Finally, he’s too lightheaded and he has to pull away from her, setting her toes back on the ground. She looks up at him and instantly blushes the brightest shade of red he’s ever seen on her, smiling shyly.

“So I guess that means you like the mittens?” 

He can’t help but chuckle. “I love the mittens, Marinette. They’re perfect.” He leans down to press his forehead against hers, taking a moment to let his heart catch up with him. “And I love you,” he whispers to her. 

Her eyes practically sparkle as her smile widens. She throws her arms around his neck, catching him off guard and toppling them both to the floor. He wraps an arm around her as they fall, protecting her. Always protecting her. 

She lands on top of him and his cheeks burn when he thinks back on every time they’ve found themselves in this same position. But it’s different now. Everything’s different. 

She scrambles off him, muttering an apology, her bright red blush betraying that her thoughts weren’t that far away from his. She stands and offers him a hand up. He takes it before he smirks at her with every bit of mischief he can muster up. Her eyes widen at his expression, right before he pulls her back down with him, laughing as he wraps his arms around her, squeezing her tightly. 

She laughs with him, struggling against him only half-heartedly. She manages to wiggle an arm out of his grasp and she props herself up to look at him. Their laughter fades together and she just smiles at him. She doesn’t even have to say it. He knows she loves him, too. 

“Uh, Marinette?” He hears Tikki’s hesitant voice nearby. He had almost forgotten the kwamis were in the room. Marinette scrambles off him again and he instantly misses her weight against him.

“Oh, right, we should… I mean I should… I only came to give you the, the smittens, I mean the mittens! And now I should probably…”

He props himself up on his elbows behind his back, and watches her eyes travel over him. He’s rewarded by the blush that positively blooms over her cheeks. Different. Definitely different. 

She snaps back to attention. “I should go. But I’ll see you…” 

“Tomorrow night? Patrol?” 

“Right. Yes, patrol.” Seeing Marinette shift into Ladybug without even transforming makes him smile again. She calls for her transformation and he pushes himself up before he kneels down to kiss the back of her hand like he’s done so many other times before. 

“Until then, milady.” Maybe watching Ladybug shift into Marinette is more amusing. Now that he knows, he’s amazed there was even a line between them in his mind to begin with. She waves awkwardly before slinging her yoyo off into the distance. 

Right before she tugs on her yoyo to swing away, she leans back and kisses him again on the cheek, surprising him. His jaw drops and his fingers automatically fly to where her lips were. She grins, tugging on her yoyo before he can respond. By the time he’s recovered, her silhouette has disappeared behind the rooftops. 

If this is falling, he never wants to stop. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to everyone who stuck with this story! <3 I would not have made it this far without you. For those of you who were hoping for a different ending, I've decided to write the two alternate endings I had planned and post them separately, so I hope you come back around to see what might've been!


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